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"EC" is unrealistic and has really thrown a wrench in the works for those of us who do coupon heavily (like me). I cannot walk out of the grocery store with carts of groceries for pennies; nobody can in real life. That show, however, has ruined things at many stores for me, where cashiers and managers now view me with suspicion and where store policies have changed. In order for "EC" to have a show, they must get the store chain to sign off on suspending its normal policies about the number of identical coupons per transaction, doubling, etc. And the couponer often uses fake coupons, or uses legitimate coupons fraudulently (by being familiar with the ins and outs of bar codes). And who needs 500 boxes of Jello?
In real life, I have a stockpile and yes, it is excessive to most people. But I have four kids, a huge dog and donate to food pantries and social agencies in my county. I also resell stuff at yard sales. Friends come over and "shop" out of my closet.
I have not paid for any health or beauty items that you normally get in a drugstore in over three years -- now I don't even "buy" the stuff unless I can walk out of the store with more money than I came in with -- and because of that, I have more money to spend at the grocery store where the deals are few and far between on things like meat and produce.
I do it because I love to shop and if I can get paid to do it, I'm ahead of the game, and it is a game to people like me.
If you don't like to spend two hours in a store, you would not understand. But lots of people do.
Yes, I have stuff in my closet that I have no use for. But it's there because I made money "buying" it, and eventually I will either find someone who does use it, donate it to an agency, sell it or toss it. No big deal.
By "making money buying it," I refer to the play money game that the drugstores all use -- the Extra Care Bucks (CVS), the Register Rewards (Walgreens) and the UPs (RiteAid). The game is in using the play money to buy stuff every week, getting more play money in return for your purchases, "rolling" the play money into the next week, and stocking up (hopefully) on stuff you use in the process, with very little OOP (out-of-pocket) expense.
For example, next week I'll be buying 30 bottles of Dawn at CVS, paying $11 after coupons, and getting a $10 gas card in return. I need dish detergent, I'll be set for a couple of years, and I will have spent a buck. I have the space, so what's the harm? I will not be buying the Dawn in one day, at one store - there are dozens of CVS'es in my area, so nobody is going to be left Dawn-less because of my shopping....
I'm sure there's a bit of the hoarder in me, but hey, the stuff I buy gets used and I don't have 50 smelly cats and a 10-foot stack of used dish towels, just a mini-store.
I understand it's annoying to get in line behind a couponer, but really, that's the store you need to take it up with.
It's almost as if it is acceptable hoarding..you don't need 150 tubes of toothpaste for example.
The greediness to empty store shelves, and, as you say, be immensely proud of your gluttony
doesn't sound like a very rationally thinking person. No embarrassment.."I took it all, it's all mine."
But it's not about the toothpaste -- it's about the cents off. Lets say the tube of toothpaste is 1.20. If Shopper has a 1.00 off coupon and can double it, she actually makes 80 cents, because she gets two bucks off a 1.20 product.
And if she does that 150 times, she makes 120 bucks. That 120 bucks pays for the items Shopper buys that don't have coupons or rebates, like meat and produce. The idea is to walk out of the store with everything you need for free, or nearly free.
By the way -- I don't do this either. Although I understand it, I disagree with the thinking. I think it sets up an extremely wasteful lifestyle, promotes hoarding, verges on a mental illness and honestly, when I hear people buy 16K worth of groceries a year nearly free... it's disgusting. I spent less than 1/4 that and we eat well. It also helps that no one double coupons here at all, and all our inserts suck. I rarely find any useable coupons.
However, I think a lot of stores have cracked down and are not allowing that sort of couponing anymore. If you buy a 1.20 tube of toothpaste and use a 1.00 off coupon that can be doubled, it can only be doubled to allow you to get a free product...
But it's not about the toothpaste -- it's about the cents off. Lets say the tube of toothpaste is 1.20. If Shopper has a 1.00 off coupon and can double it, she actually makes 80 cents, because she gets two bucks off a 1.20 product.
I don't know any stores who will let you do that. None here will double over 50 cents, and they will only give you credit for the value of the item. You would get your $1.20 item free (if the store did double the $1 coupon), but you would not get cash back.
While I've done kew-poning on a much smaller scale than the "extreme" couponers, I've never understood how it works out.
It has always been my experience that I have very little use for probably 95% of the coupons that come out in the circulars - they have, for the most part, always been for convenience type foods that I don't buy or for name brands that I can buy cheaper as store or generic brands - without the coupon.
I have never taken more than maybe eight to ten coupons in the store at a time, and I often end up only using one or two, because once I get to the store, I find the same product under a different name for cheaper.
Once in a while I will come across a coupon for something I wouldn't ordinarily buy - a dessert or treat of some kind - that I will use because it's a high enough value coupon to make it worth it.
While I've done kew-poning on a much smaller scale than the "extreme" couponers, I've never understood how it works out.
It has always been my experience that I have very little use for probably 95% of the coupons that come out in the circulars - they have, for the most part, always been for convenience type foods that I don't buy or for name brands that I can buy cheaper as store or generic brands - without the coupon.
I have never taken more than maybe eight to ten coupons in the store at a time, and I often end up only using one or two, because once I get to the store, I find the same product under a different name for cheaper.
Once in a while I will come across a coupon for something I wouldn't ordinarily buy - a dessert or treat of some kind - that I will use because it's a high enough value coupon to make it worth it.
I only use coupons for stuff I need, but the trick is, I believe, to "stack" your coupons -- use them combined with sales and other deals. I've started to use coupons more, and while the vast majority are not useful to me, when you hit the timing right, you can get stuff for well below the generic price (and even better, if you can do your buying at a time when they offer a "spend $X and get a coupon for $10 your next trip, or the equivalent. That goes, er, double, where double couponing is allowed, but you can still get big savings even without that. It does take planning, though.
While I've done kew-poning on a much smaller scale than the "extreme" couponers, I've never understood how it works out.
It has always been my experience that I have very little use for probably 95% of the coupons that come out in the circulars - they have, for the most part, always been for convenience type foods that I don't buy or for name brands that I can buy cheaper as store or generic brands - without the coupon.
I have never taken more than maybe eight to ten coupons in the store at a time, and I often end up only using one or two, because once I get to the store, I find the same product under a different name for cheaper.
Once in a while I will come across a coupon for something I wouldn't ordinarily buy - a dessert or treat of some kind - that I will use because it's a high enough value coupon to make it worth it.
That is my experience, too.
The other thing is that many times the coupon expires before I need the item and it is something that I do not have space for storage.
I have been known to go online to find a high value coupon for something I need, though.
I know we are talking about coupons, not rebates, but I recently went online to get rebates for some air conditioner filters and an electric toothbrush. The filter rebate was worth six bucks and the toothbrush twenty.
I think there is one store around here that will double coupons - but only up to 50 cents and no more than four at a time and you have to cut the "double coupons" out of their own store circular and write in the amount that you're doubling.
It ends up being an awful lot of work for the amount that you save.
Someone mentioned that the key is to be willing to spend time in the stores. Maybe that's where I go wrong - I HATE SHOPPING!!
It would be hard for me to match the coupons with items on sale because I really only go shopping once a month at a store almost sixty miles away, with occasional stops at a local store for things like pop or bread (or wine).
I don't know any stores who will let you do that. None here will double over 50 cents, and they will only give you credit for the value of the item. You would get your $1.20 item free (if the store did double the $1 coupon), but you would not get cash back.
Didn't used to be that way -- before the show started, a lot of stores would give the full amount due back. Stores have scaled way back on coupon acceptance thanks to this show and the massive coupon fraud from the internet.
One of the episodes caused a furor because one of the shoppers committed coupon fraud -- she knew that one of her stacks of coupons which had a high value on an expensive item would scan on a much cheaper item to get her lots of cash back.
This code fraud has been tightened -- now coupons should work for specific products, not product families.
But I can remember when we first got married -- coupons were a godsend. They allowed us to save a lot of money on our grocery bill and you got real food. It was common that you'd get a coupon for cents off milk or bananas when you bought cereal, or cents off tomatoes if you bought hamburger buns -- they tied products together in way they don't anymore.
I noticed coupons drying up in the early 90's.... and about in 1995 I pretty much stopped couponing at all. I save one or two here and there for cat food or Loreal Mascara or Haircolor, but pretty much out here our inserts are page after page of checks in the mail, address stampers, genie bras, air fresheners and crappy restaurants I don't want to go to.
A couple times a year -- usually around a big family holiday like Thanksgiving Easter and Christmas it can be a coupon bonanza.... but even then I can go to Costco and save more without coupons on a lot of staples.
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